hello, everybody! i'm luke russert in for thomas roberts. the cliff averted. folks on the left and right are still up in arms, a bill this will keep the country back from the brink is ready for signature. that signing will likely happen in hawaii where the president arrived in just the last hour to finish up the holiday trip with his family. he left the white house right after the passing of the bill. >> a little less drama, a little less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much. >> the republican-run house gave final approval by a vote of 267-167 but not until after some strong dissension from gop

ranks. >> it's way past the senators' bedtime and they were blurry-eyed when they were reading it. we're trying to fill in the gaps of where they missed a few thing. >> i think it's unreasonable for senator reid to say that something produced by sleep deprived octogenarians is something we should pass within 48 hours. >> 85 republicans crossed the aisle to say yea. boehner turned a page in his statement saying, quote, now the focus turns to spending. the american people re-elected a republican majority in the house and we will use it to hold the president accountable for the balanced approach he promised. >> very rare a speaker and leader diverge. how much damage did the fiscal fight do to the speaker and the

house and the senate? >> one thinks of the napoleon quote that you have don't interrupt the enemy when they're destroying themselves and you guys just waited around long enough and the republican party did that, didn't they, chris? >> a lot of republicans are faulting speaker boehner. they totally ignored him, they undercut him. >> you had an agreement last night. >> we have this totally dysfunctional senate and there are a dysfunctional congress and no wonder our back is up against the wall at midnight and we get some kind of -- this terrible deal that's thrown in our laps. >> so what was it like to be in the room when republicans voted on that deal? joining me now from capitol hill is republican congressman tom cole of oklahoma, who broke with his party in late november by suggesting the gop should consider a deal with a tax hike. thanks so much for being on the show. >> thank you, luke. >> i got to hand it to you,

congressman cole, a big head line in the "washington post" today, "why tom cole is right," cole and mcconnell seem to have grasped that the long-range strategy dictated a deal be done on the fiscal cliff with as little public airing of grievances as possible. do you think that for future fights your colleagues will follow your advice and how much damage has this done to the house gop brand? >> i don't think it's done a lot of damage. sometimes in politics like in war you find a holding action so the army can escape. i think that's what you saw. the army is off the beaches and back where it belongs. and the fights ahead of us are fights that we're very well positioned for and we're very united about and that's spending. and we've got the sequester vote, the continuing resolution vote and the debt ceiling vote in front of us. and if the president thinks that he's not going to negotiate, he

better think again. he's president of the united states, he's not emperor of the planet. we'll have to see the spending cuts and entitlement reforms he's talked about. i take him at his word, said he'd like to put them on the table, we haven't seen them. i'm looking forward to seeing them literally in a matter of days. this next 90 days is going to be really critical for restoring the fiscal stability of the country. >> i want to ask you, you just mentioned you guys are united but last night it was a rarity, house speaker john boehner voted for the plan, majority leader eric cantor voted against it, as did kevin mccarthy, his chief whip. does that send a message to the chuckle head as your colleague said? if boehner and cantor is split, there's no reason we can't oppose the big deal? >> i'm proud of the speaker. he knew what needed to be done. he provided the cover for us to

do, let the conference work its will. leadership is about leading and i think he did that. in the fights ahead of us, we're going to be awfully unified. there's no any difference in the ranks in terms of cutting spending and entitlements. i think the president played his best card in the opening round of the poker game last night. he's not going to get that one again. the revenue questions are over. it's all about spending and entitlement cuts. we'll seep how brave he is whether it comes to dealing with his party. >> do you think the leadership style by boehner is effective, though, to let your house caucus vent? it's almost the prodigal son, right? can you do that with a debt limit deal that could send the entire world in chaos? >> it's the trillion dollar deficits the president is not serious about addressing and a senate that hasn't appropriation deuce a budget in three years. it's time to belly up to the bar

and put something on the table. we did last night. i'm proud of our conference for what it did. it was a difficult thing. i'm particular lif proud of the speaker. but, again, we'll see whether or not the leader of the free world is willing to lead and we'll see whether or not his party is willing to follow when it comes to serious spending cuts and entitlement reform. that's the only way can you get fiscal stability. >> noted conservative columnist charles krauthammer said this. i want to play it. >> there are a lot of conservatives, republican caucus in the house, who hate the bill and for good reason. i mean, this is a complete surrender on everything. >> i think he speaks for some of your colleagues who view 8 4% of the bush tax cuts being saved for permanent lip as a complete concession. you know the thirst for cutting spending in your conference is just so -- it's very much there. with that first for spending

cuts, do you honestly believe the president can walk into a real bipartisan negotiation in the next 60 to 90 days? >> well, that's up to the president, not up to us. look, again, do i see -- when you can permanently end the alternative minimum tax and you can make 85% of the bush tax cuts perm nenanent for 98% of t american people, certainly we couldn't do when we had bush in the white house and both houses and you've got in front of you, three opportunities on the spending front, to see that's a defeat, nobody loves and admires charles krauthammer more than i do but it's neither a defeat or surrender, it's the opening round of the campaign. why don't we judge it at the end of this. i think you'll see us in very strong position. we finally moved to ground where we can be united and defend ourselves. as long as the president had the prospect of raising taxes on every single american over our head, you know, he was in a strong position. that's gone this morning. i think -- i'm looking forward,

honestly, to the next 90 days a lot more than i looked forward to the last six weeks. >> indeed. republican congressman tom cole of oklahoma, we'll call those 80 republicans that voted for the bill last night the cole caucus. >> let's just call them the spartans. they knew when we had to stand and fight. zhe >> thanks for being on the show. >> let's bring in our panel. thanks so much for being on the show, guys. chris, you're in the studio with me so you get the opportunity to go first. i want to play what representative steve latourette said this morning on cbs. >> he said if there was no deal, taxes would have gone up on every american. and the speaker's stated objective was to spare as many people in the country as he could from a tax increase but at the end of the day we got whooped.

>> do you think the gop got whooped? >> i'm not sure how much leverage they have for the debt ceiling fight. i know they're playing this card right now, this game where they're trying to sound tough but the consequentices are hard. they seem so dysfunctional. it looks like they need an exorcism to get this right. they don't seem to know which direction they want to go, which is why they keep fighting within themselves about what to do and what to say. and that is not a thing -- >> i want to you get in on that. is this civil war we're seeing within the house, you have these pragmatic guys like tom cole, who was just on and then you have the apocalyptic guys who

doesn't want to support anything. how hard is that going to be for the gop identity as we move toward 2014 because these fights will impact that election. >> i think we'll find out over the next 60 days we don't have to wait until 2014. this has set up the debt limit discussion to be about all in about what republicans are going to stand for. are they going to stand their ground and demand the spending cuts to get these trillion dollar deficits under control or are they going to fold and try to make a deal? this will be the fight over the next 60 days. if this is a football game, we're down a couple touchdowns at the end of the first half. but the end of the day it's what the end score is and that will be dictated by the debt limit. >> one thing i'm trying to stress ises what's happened last night is going to be child's play compared to the debt limit. in terms of president obama having these big things he wanted to accomplish, he talked last night about energy reform,

he talked about gun control, he's talked about immigration. a lot of his political capital is going to be used in the next 60 to 90 days on these budget wars. >> that's right. and these budget wars don't knowsly amount to legacy. here's a president who came in like most presidents thinking about a legacy, thinking about history. of course i think obama care will be part it haof it but i t he's looking at immigration and energy, a lot of thing he's wasn't able to do in the first term, to get them done in the second term. a lot of bad blood there between obama and the republicans but also some bad blood there between obama and the democrats. not a lot of -- i think not a lot of improvement obama has shown over he's last weeks in terms of his relationship with congress. i think that's something he certainly needs to work on if he's looking at legacy, if he's looking at these big ticket items to push them through in his second term. in a couple of months we'll have

these big debates around the debt limit but quickly once 2014 comes around, we're going to be thinking about the mid terms and a lot of his political capital will be gone by then. >> it's interesting, chris, everyone to a person on capitol hill said biden did this, biden did this. a lot of republicans said we wish biden got involved earlier. another guy who worked a lot on this, mitch mcconnell. >> mitch mcconnell chose to be a quiet statesman. you didn't see him on camera. he didn't meet face to face with joe biden. but he's the reason we have this agreement. >> do you agree with that? >> here what's i'll say about mitch mcconnell. he's a very smart politician that understands that you sometimes need to lose the battle to win the war, at least in their perspective. they knew if the country had gone over the cliff and taxes had gone up on everyone, they would have gotten the blame. from his perspective, that was a

bad political bet. so they're now focused on the big fights coming, the debt crisis, the continuing resolution. the problem with that is they think they have leverage and i'm not sure they do because, again, the consequences of making that again such a political battle -- >> jim, talk to that. why do you guys have leverage? a lot of republicans on capitol hill say, look, we should too much blood on this tax fight but we are more than happy to bring the president to his knees over these budget wars in the next 60 to 90 days. explain why you guys have such good leverage. >> i think the leverage is pretty simple. we've given the president his tax increases on the rich. the rich people are saying more or however the president wants to say it. so that part is off the table. now we get to concentrate on the spending. this president has run trillion dollar deficits every single year and he's had no interest in trying to slow those down. i think over the next 60 days

for republicans to win this battle, they're going to have to frame this issue in spending trillion dollar deficits in a $16.4 trillion total debt in this country. if we don't want to be greece, we have to do something about big spending now. >> nia, i want to give you the last word on all of this. we were talking about president obama's political legacy. how much do you think his legacy will be defined in the next 30 to 60 days? i've talked to a lot of folks who say this could be one of the biggest things of his second term to get through this in order to go on to something else. >> i think budget negotiations and these big fights aren't necessarily the things that make a legacy. they're not sexy in terms of -- like immigration and health care and things like that. so, you know, i think this will be important but ultimately i think those big ticket items will be much more important. but i do think what happens out of these negotiations will either build a foundation of

what's to come later or destroy that foundation in terms of what he's and toubl to do going forward. >> so many folks on the hill will say it will dictamake the difference. thank you for joining me. >> wall street seems happy for now. huge numbers for the dow jones on the first trading day of the year. >> anyone from new york or new jersey who contributes one penny to the republican congressional campaign committee should have their head examined. when your people are literally freezing in winter and they're without food, without shelter, without clothing and my own party refuses to help them, then why should i help the republican party? >> tough words with peter king,

not happy with speaker john boehner and many of his party members. the congressman calls the decision a knife in the back and said he's not ruling out switching political parties. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership.

the blissful pause just before that rich sweetness touches your lips. the delightful discovery, the mid-sweetening realization that you have the house all to yourself. well, almost. the sweet reward, making a delicious choice that's also a smart choice.

splenda no-calorie sweetener. with the original sugar-like taste you love and trust. splenda makes the moment yours.

with the fiscal cliff now averted, lawmakers and president obama are gearing up for the next budget showdown. it's coming in late february when the delay in the sequester expires and congress must raise the debt limit to avoid default. >> save your powder for the debt ceiling fight. we have leverage at the debt ceiling to make this president face up to the fact that we're spending our way into oblivion. >> while i will negotiate over many things, i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that

they've already racked up. >> joining me live, democratic congresswoman chair of the democratic national committee and member of the budget committee. thanks for being on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> you hear president obama say he's not going to negotiate on the debt limit. you heard lindsay graham say there save it for the debt battle. how far are they willing to go to prevent any debt accruing on that number. what gives you confidence the president will not net on this and what can he do to avoid negotiating on this? >> i think inwho has observed president obama over making sure that we could have a balanced approach to beginning deficit reduction has seen what's on the table and his willingness to

compromise and what he's not willing to compromise on. let's look at what the republicans are using as a leverage point, no less than the full faith and credit of the united states. we got a good window in what happens when you do that in the summer of 2011 when the debt cre ceiling was part of those negotiations, we had our credit rating downgraded, a huge hit to the economy and the recovery. the debt ceiling is a separate issue. congress incurs bills, they have to be paid and the debt ceiling will not be a component of that negotiation. >> boehner said he got 98% of what he wanted. you heard republicans at the last minute say we want certainly like changed cpi, medicare cuts the president put a lot out there, upwards of hundreds of billions in cuts. are you worried republicans will ask for those in exchange for raising the debt limit? >> i will say again the debt ceiling is not going to be a

component of these negotiations. the president has made that clear, the vice president in the caucus meeting made that clear. what is going to be essential and what will be an element is whatever we do going forward, the fiscal cliff deal that we passed last night is one step forward toward a balanced approach. the republicans need to understand that now we're not going to turn to spending cuts only. thing we do going forward is going to need to have balance, balance in revenue and spending cuts. there's still going to be more pain toward deficit reduction on the backs of the middle class. >> it's the day after the cliff deal because it came at 11:59 last night. >> sure did. >> grover norquist had this tweet where he essentially said the bush tax cuts lapsed at midnight, every r voting for the senate bill is cutting taxes and

keeping his/her pledge. democrats were vehemently against all these tax cuts because they raise the deficit. these will raise the deficit by about $4 trillion. are you worried last night the deal added too much to the deficit? how come democrats have basically embraced these bush tax cuts from about a decade ago? >> let's look at what the reason was the democrats opposed those 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. it's because they weren't paid for. they blew a massive hole in the deficit, along with the two wars that weren't paid for and the medicare part d drug plan, which was a good thing but was not paid for. we need to go back to pay as you go rules. the republicans when they came in and took the majority back got rid of that requirement. we're for responsible tax cuts that help the middle class. we're not for and neither were the american people as they said in this election when they voted for president obama's reelection, were not for giving

give-aways in terms of billions in tax breaks to the wealthiest, most fortunate americans when we have to get a handle on our deficit and get our economy turned around and get back to creating jobs. >> thanks. doctors say secretary of state hillary clinton is making excellent progress as she recovers from a blood clot found behind her right ear. she's expected to make a full recovery. the potentially thrive-threatening condition was discovered during a routine mri.

the nation is not going off the fiscal cliff, at least for now. how are the markets reacting and what does it mean for your money? >> dismissive attitude that was shown last night toward new york, new jersey and connecticut

typifies i believe a strain in the republican party. i know this is not the place to discuss politics, but that politics seeped over into a governmental decision that was made. i can't imagine that type of indifference, that type of disregard. >> this isn't about people getting a suntan. this is about jobs in the economy, a $40 billion tourism business! >> that was congressman peter king, amongst other lawmakers from new jersey and new york outraged after house speaker boehner pulls an expected vote on hurricane sandy relief. congressman king joins me next. kids grow up in no time... marie callender's turkey breast with stuffing is a great reason to slow down. creamy mash potatoes, homestyle gravy and 320 calories. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm gonna read one of these. i'm gonna read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 duster's extender gets into hard-to-reach places without the hassle. so you can get unbelievable dust pickup in less time without missing a thing. i love that book. can you believe the twin did it? ♪ swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back. right now wall street is cheering the fiscal cliff deal with a huge rally. the dow is up 229 points after soaring 166 points on monday in anticipation of the deal. but as we know, investor confidence can turn quickly to angst with more budget battles

looming in the months ahead. cnbc's jackie deangelis joins me live. the $64,000 question, how long will we have this air of good feelings jackie? >> that hit the nail on the head. we're seeing the market reaction in reaction to a deal and the time liveness of it. wall street does like the fact that congress was able to act and move forward. at the same time the question is how long does that euphoria last? we did see the tax increases that we were expecting come into play, but at the same time the spending has been kicked down the road and wall street doesn't like uncertainty. so when it comes to that spending and looking at those issues in all k couple of month we'll have to see how the market reacts. we could see a rally today and a little bit of a fade moving forward. >> thank you very much. new tension over hurricane sandy relief. members voted to adjourn,

delaying the $64 billion bill to the 113th congress, which convenes tomorrow. it followed a last-minute decision by speaker john baoehnr to pull back the vote. >> we should have an open debate. that's what democracy is all about. all of a sudden because the tea party or some conservative element is worried that they have to vote on another spending bill, all of a sudden the speaker says, well, we can't do this today. >> talk to the people, look into their eyes, understand their needs! come walk with me, mr. speaker. maybe then you can have the leadership that is necessary to get this bill passed today! >> it's a dismissive attitude that was shown last night toward new york, new jersey and connecticut typifies, i believe, a strain in the republican party. this should not be the republican party, this should not be the republican leadership. >> but the spokesman for house speaker john boehner says the

bill will come up for a vote. "the speaker is committed to getting this bill passed this month." joining me now is congressman peter king, a republican from new york. thanks so much for being on the program. >> thank you, luke. >> i understand john boehner is going to meet with members of the new jersey and new york delegation later today. this is what he said will be the first thing he'll do in the new congress. is that enough for you right now? >> if we get it through. the fact is we've been told this before. the fact is that we have no vote scheduled for next week. we're going to be in for two days the week after that, the following week is the presidential inauguration. is john boehner going to bring this up if a majority of the majority does not agree to it? let's face it, the overwhelming majority of the republican party is opposed to giving new york, new jersey and connecticut the aid we need. they say we need 27 billion. this bill was nor $60 billion. that's the number that governor cuomo, governor christie and player bloomberg need.

just having a vote doesn't mean much unless it's for the full $60 million. i don't know how the speakler do that if he follows his policy saying you have to have a majority of the majority. it's very difficult to get anything out of that conference, especially when you're dealing with the northeast. if the speaker can do it, fine. we've been down this path now for the last month where i've been assured time and again everything was fine. i was in with the speak with her governor cuomo, governor christie was with the speaker, i met with eric cantor a number of times and as far as i can tell he's been entire live straight with us. as late as last night he was trying to get the bill on the calendar. if this is not delivered and very quickly, republicans have no trouble finding new york when this comes to raising money and i would just say anyone from new york or new jersey who contributes one penny to congressional republicans after this should have their head examined. >> now, you say you are essentially now a man without a country, you didn't rule out a party switch, you not ruling out

voting against speaker boehner for speaker tomorrow. how are you going to vote in that election? could you become a democrat? >> first of all, i never said i'm switching party. when i'm saying is when you're in a party, you give them a deference. on some votes you may not agree but you understand when your area is in need, the party will be there for you. i'm going to look at every vote from a different perspective. they can't count on me for any vote. i can't trust the party to be there for my region of the country, including homeland security. it was like the final nail in the coffin. i'm more conservative than many people in the republican party, i believe in strong nash defense and homeland security but i also don't agree with a regional bias. >> president obama just released a statement saying when tragedy strikes, it's americans' duties to come together to help those in need, urging congress to pass

this type of relief bill. why do you think boehner is not moving on this? congressman isic ia -- isa said filled the bill will pork. do you think that's the reason why your house republican colleagues aren't moving this or speaker boehner is not moving on this? or is boehner worried about showing a preference to new york city for some of the more conservative red state members of his conference? >> well, that statement from congressman isa shows how quick house republicans are to jump the gun against new york. the fact is every one of those items was taken out of the bill. every one of those items. they were put into the senate and taken out of it in the house. the bill that was going to go on the house floor did not have any of those items that congressman isa was talking about. john boehner wouldn't talk to us

last night. i would say with the fiscal cliff and people in the party talking about spending he thought it was too much to put together but this is always separate. the part of leadership is to be able to distinguish and say this is not something part of ordinary spending. we have always historically stood with other regions. in 2005 within 60 days the congress gave -- excuse me, within ten days we gave $60 billion for katrina and that went over $100 billion. it's now nine weeks and congress has not appropriated one penny to people of new york, new jersey and connecticut. my community, the southern end of it was destroyed, homes are under water. then you go to congressman turner at breezy point. this is devastation. these are people without homes, without food, without shelter, living in trailers and pickup trucks. this is not the united states of america. >> and on that, governors cuomo and christie released a

statement saying continued inaction by the house is inexcusable. >> i'm going to put up a graphic with the most expensive storms, katrina, $105 billion, sandy, the second most expensive storm in the united states in terms of damage that it caused. congressman king, you just got into it right there but for folks watching this around the country, for somebody who is watching this in let's say colorado or nebraska or texas that say, well, it doesn't necessarily affect me, i don't want my tax dollars going to something like this that could be a boondoggle, what is being phased by your fellow new yorkers on the ground right now by this money not getting there? >> first of all, you have thousands of people without home. we have others living in homes that are torn apart, where they're living in pickup trucks. you have many jobs that have been lost, businesses destroyed, incredible property damage and the local government. the local government -- nassau county alone has $6.5 billion in

costs. all of the expenses that went into the maintenance, the clean-up, the first responders, the police, the fire, a sewer maintenance plant was destroyed, a waste treatment plant. this is what we're talking about, the cost, the infrastructure. in new york city, battery park tunnel destroyed, decimated. lower manhattan subway system, incredibly damaged. in my district alone you have homes where people cannot go back to their home. my daughter has had people living at her home for eight, nine weeks. neighbors of hers in amityville who lost their home. this goes on. can you go community by community. these are real people. by the way, i would say to the speaker these are also people who historically have voted republican. can you imagine going back to them a year from now and say, by the way, vote for me for congress, i'm the guy who couldn't get you the money, even though we got it for mississippi and louisiana and other parts of the country? and have i no problem voting for

that. everyone as i recall, everyone from new york immediately voted to help every other part of the country whenever we've had one of these natural disasters. this is a national obligation. this is not something brought on by us in new york. we're not people who feel sorry for ourselves. all we're saying is treat us fairly, treat us the way you treated the people in louisiana and mississippi, the way you treated people in florida and in the gulf states whenever you've had one of these natural disasters. >> congressman peter king from new york, appreciate you coming on the show. maybe play the song by bruce springsteen "we take care of our own" at the meeting today. >> and coming up, congressman barney frank weighs in on his last day in the house and we'll talk about the politicians who will follow in his foot steps. i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios!

mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios

tend to weigh less than those who don't. is bigger than we think ... sometimelike the flu.fer from with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal.

so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so don't wait. call your doctor right away. tamiflu is prescription medicine for treating the flu in adults and children one year and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing. have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion or abnormal behavior. the most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. the flu comes on fast, so ask your doctor about tamiflu. prescription for flu.

tomorrow will mark the end of the 112th congress and the start of the 113th. what will the legacy of this outgoing congress be? joining me from capitol hill is massachusetts outgoing congressman barney frank on his last day on the job. congressman frank, thank you so much for joining us on the show. >> nice to be here. actually, it would be nicer to be someplace else. >> my esteemed colleague tom brokaw said this regarding this congress: >> i think this congress has now sealed the deal. it's easily the worst in the history of the country as they go out. i can't remember a congress historically or otherwise that limps out of office out of this term in worse shape than this one does. >> congressman frank, you've been serving in the house for a long time. is this one of worst you've ever seen? >> it is the worst but the exception i would take is it's not "the congress." i was here in 2007 and 2008 when the democrats worked with george bush when we will to on an

economic stimulus and on response to the crash. then in 2009 and 2010 we had a democratic house and senate and got a lot done. and then the tea party came to down. this is a result of not a fundamental institutional weakness but the fact that people came to dominate the republican party in the election who don't believe in governance. there is very limb they think government can accomplish and they like having government discredit discredited. i agree but i would be clear on where the blame is. we all came to a deal none of us would have done by ourselves but understanding shared power, we went ahead with it. >> i want to ask you a question. why do you think that joe biden

has much better luck negotiating with congress more so than president obama? >> well, first, the president and biden were working together on this. biden was there obviously as the president's agent and it has probably to do with experience. joe biden i know it's fasable n in -- fashionable -- joe's been at it a long time. experience can be useful. that's what he was able to call on. also, frankly, i don't think there was that much substantive difference. i think it's face saving on the republican side. mitch mcconnell famously said his number one objective was to defeat the president's reelection, not to help the economy or do anything constructive. for mcconnell to deal with a man he so demonized would have been hard for him. i think dealing with joe biden was a face saver for mitch mcconnell.

>> do you think president obama has any chance with this remaining political capital he has to cement his legacy on gun reform and other issues? so much of his capital will be used on the debt limit, the funding bill. can president obama break this republican fever? >> i'm hoping that, though i will say the most far reaching health care bill since medicare and the most significant financial reform since the new deal, along with some other bills that we passed, the repeal of don't ask/don't tell, he already has a significant legacy in terms of legislative achievement. beyond that the key question is this -- we'll see it in the debt limit -- the republican party in the house dominated by extremists in the tea party was at war with itself yesterday where every hour they were

switching their positions. there was enormous pressure by the financial community and others in the business funded that. i know there is a little bit of buyer's remorse on the part of some of those people who helped the republicans hold the house when it comes to, for instance, not raising the debt limit, which would be such an unnecessary disaster for the economy. so this is the question. i think there is a very real chance that mainstream conservatives of the bob dole sort will get back some footing in the republican party. if that happens, we can go forward. it may take another election. >> at the behest of wall street donors perhaps. our other topic, you were the first open live gay member of congress. now if you look in this current 113th congress about to be sworn in tomorrow, there are seven lgbt members in congress, including tammy baldwin, a united states senator. you're very much a transformative figure, congressman frank, what do you think is the future for lgbt and

can one run in the united states in my lifetime? >> i appreciate that, i appreciate your mentioning it. i was not the first openly guy, i was the first voluntarily to say that. i spent a lot of time trying to transform my own figure, but i would say we're not there yet. at some point it will happen, but remember we still -- there was still -- the presidency is the last basket. we're making enormous progress. having tammie wynn was significant, and when i first came out, i would be asked by colleagues to help them politically, but if i was asked to go campaign for somebody or raise money for somebody, it was generally within ten miles of an ocean, that is it was on one of the coasts with a more liberal attitude. today i'm asked to go everywhere and we have gay members of congress from arizona, as well as other midwestern areas. so i -- the presidency, it could

be, but here's the thing that i have to tell you, i first found the gay rights bill in 1972 when i was a freshman in the massachusetts legislature. if any time you'd ask me to estimate the progress, i would have been too pessimistic. the fight has been so -- it's gone so much more quickly than i thought, if i told you now, presidency won't be reached for a while, but on the other hand the progress has been so great. small example, a number of people earlier this year, earlier last year, were predicting the president's endorsement of same-sex marriage would be a big problem for him. we wound out in an election in which mitt romney complained it was used as an issue against him. >> lastly, really quick before we go, real quick, ed markey, your colleague, can he beat scott brown? >> i think so, and the issue is this, in 2010, scott brown was a

very decent guy, but a member of this very right-wing party. he's got this problem in massachusetts, especially since in 2010 it was his election that really harolderalded a lot of problems for president obama. massachusetts vote ed overwhel overwhelmingly for president obama. running as a representative for the republican party in the senate to ask for a repudiation of barack obama is a problem. >> going to be fascinating. >> this is not just ed markey on the ballot. this is president obama and ed markey, and i think the people of massachusetts are unlikely to, in effect, reverse their vote of just a couple months ago. >> it's an all boston college race with scott brown and ed markey, the school you represented for over, i believe, 30 years. >> 32. >> thanks for being on the show. we appreciate it. >> thank you, luke. we'll be right back here on msnbc, the place for politics. don't go anywhere.

i'm luke russert live from washington, d.c. that wraps up things for me. "now" is next with joy ann reid at the helm today. joy ann, i'm handing the ball off to you. run all the way to the end zone, my friend. what do you got coming up for us, today? >> don't do too much of a handoff, i need you back shortly. after weeks of drama and congressional fighting, what do americans get? just enough for a short breather until the next round of fiscal battles. was it all worth it? we'll ask michael steele, kurt andersen. plus, the washington post's ezra klein helps us navigate the land mines in this deal and the small issue of adding another $4 trillion to the deficit. also, can the partisan ranker get any worse? norm orenstein weighs in on these divided states of america.

and if reputation is everything in washington, who are the big winners and losers of the fiscal cliff debate? all that when "now" starts in three minutes. yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues... with three strains of good bacteria. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything.

only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about. and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. there's a range of plans to choose from, too. and they all travel with you. anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over